Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina: Co-Working and Co-Living for Digital Nomads and Expats

Kristin:    00:00:05    Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development and business advice from our guests. 

Kristin:    You know, critics of remote work say that you need meetings and face-to-face interaction in order to get things done. But we all know that communication and community are two of the most important factors for success in a location independent lifestyle. So every time you listen to an episode of this or any podcast that you find value in, I challenge you to share the wealth. Take a moment to think of one person in your professional or personal network who might benefit from listening in. Then share it with them and tell them why. Doing this will help you absorb and apply the info that most resonated with you from the episode, putting it into practice in your own life while delivering value to someone you care about. And with that, let's get on with today's show.

Podcast Interview:

Kristin:  Hey guys, we're hanging out on a rooftop terrace here in Central Bueno Aires, downtown, right? Central Downtown. 

Mariano:    00:01:23    Bueno Aires, downtown. 

Kristin:    00:01:24    Downtown. I was fortunate enough to be living next door to the guys from the Nomad Hub, which is one of the few co-living places in the city. And I didn't even know until after I got here. So sadly, I'm renting an Airbnb next door. I could have been here <laugh>. And so I'm with Dan and Mar. Mariano. Mariano. Yes. Um, so let's just, yeah, let's start at the beginning. Um, how did you guys end up here? Or, um, how did this , concept come about and when did it happen?  

Dan:    00:01:59    Um, so I guess, uh, I'll go first. Uh, I met Tito who's the owner of this place, and he told me about this idea of this concept that he saw in San Francisco when he traveled. And he was so impacted by the co-living thing that I, I guess everyone already knows about it. I mean, your, your audience. So, um, he started like the first 20 in Buenos Aires, and then my contract where I was for four years, um, like it came to an end. So that's when I decided it's like the perfect time to, to move to the co-living. And that's how I, I got in and uh, it's great 'cause I've been traveling for a long time. So I, I, I live here for two months and then I travel for two months and it's, it's just great.  

Kristin:    00:02:42    Oh, nice. So how long have you been living here now?  

Dan:    00:02:45    Uh, since April of 2018, so, okay. Pretty much eight months.  

Kristin:    00:02:50    Cool. And Mariano, what about you? How are you involved with Nomad Hub? 

Mariano:    00:02:54    Well, Yeah. I knew Dao back, I guess like three years ago. Um, he, this was the first of the Noad gatherings that he organized. Uh, we expected to see like 20 people there. And it was really full a hundred people. Wow. Like the place exploding. And I said, okay, this is super interesting. Who is organizing this? Um, thatto was there, uh, the expectations were like really full that day. And he keep kept organizing, uh, different gatherings. And he also organized DNX Barcelona. Oh wow. And DNX Buenos Aires.  

Kristin:    00:03:31    I had no idea. Yeah.  

Mariano:    00:03:32    Yeah. So in DNX Buenos Aires, I was invited by him to, to talk a bit about my experience as a nomad. And, um, he told me, Hey, we are opening a Coli, uh, in a few months. So when I came back from my last trip to Santiago de Chile, I was living there for six months last year. So when I came back, I called TA and say, Hey man, do you have place for me? Yeah. And it was that.  

Kristin:    00:03:57    Yeah. So how is the nomad scene here in Bueno Aires? 'cause it's such a big city and I know that there are nomads here. I just haven't met that many of them this month. So what is it like, do you guys have regular events? Are are people like spread out everywhere? I know there's a Selena in Palermo now, and, uh, where is everyone hanging out? 'cause there's tons of coworking spaces and there's tons of people here, but where are the nomad pockets?  

Dan:    00:04:22    So I, I guess Buenos Aires is, as you said, it's a huge city and there's so many events every single day. And it's insane. Well, Tato again, he's uh, he has, he hosts, uh, the biggest digital nomad, uh, media up in Bueno Aires. There's like 5,000 people Yeah. In it, I think. Or, or maybe six th– 6,000. Right. Wow. So of course there are not all digital nomads. There are people that want to be nomads or, you know, like, like soon to be nomads, basically. Because there's a lot of like, people that study programming, you know, like digital. Uh, they have digital backgrounds. There's so many digital agencies here, such as the one that, that we have as well. So, uh, I think it's getting like bigger and bigger here and I don't know. Yeah. They're everywhere. I guess you just have, you just have to like look at events and then just, uh, go in. Right. Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:05:11    Okay. 'cause I looked for digital nomads in Bueno Aires on Facebook and things, and I didn't find anything. So where, yeah. Is it a Facebook group or where It's a meetup group. Just a meetup on meetup.com group  

Mariano:    00:05:22    Is also open, I guess. Oh yeah.  

Dan:    00:05:23    They have a Facebook group as well. 

Mariano:    00:05:25    I  don't, don't use Facebook, so, sorry.  

Kristin:    00:05:26    Yeah, I know. <laugh> you probably shouldn't. <laugh>.  

Mariano:    00:05:29    Yeah. You know, got tired about it,  

Kristin:    00:05:32    So. Wow. 5,000 people. Yeah. Yeah.  

Mariano:    00:05:35    Yeah. There's a lot of interest. Uh, one thing that I detected, I, I speak, I speak regularly in no events, like freelancing events  and others. And what I notice is that a lot of people want to be a digital nomad, but they don't have the, the good level of English that is required  

Dan:    00:05:51    To that.   

Kristin:    00:05:52    Ah, yeah.  

Mariano:    00:05:53    So, uh, I guess that the, the thing is that the, the, the nomads that are from, uh, abroad are not mixing a lot with the nomads.  

Kristin:    00:06:03    Ah, okay.  

Mariano:    00:06:04    Nos from here  

Dan:    00:06:06    In, in with, with that point, and I think this, this is what Nomad Hub is doing. Great. They're mixing, uh, people that are traveling here for short term, you know, like, uh, expats or digital nomads from other countries with local, uh, people that are like, live here most of the time like us. Right. Yeah. So, uh, like in, in, in my case, like what I do is I, I travel, yeah, like two months and they live here for two months. So that's why I, I love the flexibility that, that was one of the biggest things. And then like, the community factor came after and it's so nice 'cause you start meeting people that you wouldn't normally Yeah. Meet. 'cause you're in this environment, right. So every single day there's like a dinner or maybe Friday nights they host, uh, an event. Like tomorrow, for example, like after Christmas and like we have a dinner where there's like 20 expats, like, um, um, I think they're all from the US Sure.  

Mariano:    00:06:57    All,  

Dan:    00:06:58    All from the US coming here to this terrace and we're having a dinner together. Right. So it, it's just a great place. It's like a hostel, but like more for digital moments.  

Kristin:    00:07:06    Yeah. Yeah. And, and you're, remind me, um, so you're from Venezuela. I'm from Venezuela. And what is your online job?  

Dan:    00:07:12    So I started a company, uh, it's called Defiance. It's, uh, basically, uh, an inbound marketing agency. Cool. So we have the team here in Argentina. That's why we're mostly here. But we have clients in the US  

Kristin:    00:07:24    And Mariano. Are you, where are you from?  

Mariano:    00:07:26    Well, I'm from here, from Argentina.  

Kristin:    00:07:27    Oh, you're from here. Okay.  

Mariano:    00:07:28    Es and Eno.  

Kristin:    00:07:30    Uh, Eno. Yeah. Finally. No, I met, I met a lot of Enos obviously.  

Mariano:    00:07:36    Yeah. Uh, but uh, I traveled for the last three years. And I moved like, uh, 18 times in this.  

Kristin:    00:07:43    Wow. Yeah. A lot.  

Mariano:    00:07:44    <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:07:44    I lost count. I don't even keep track anymore. <laugh>. Yeah, yeah, yeah.  

Mariano:    00:07:47    Well 15 years traveling.  

Kristin:    00:07:49    That's, you know. And, and is this your main work or what were you doing when you were traveling? Uh,  

Mariano:    00:07:53    Well I work from my computer Uhhuh. I work for an agency. I just told you. Okay. About the Toptal.  

Kristin:    00:07:58    Oh, right. Yep.  

Mariano:    00:07:59    Yeah. I am a product designer and UX designer there. Uh, but I also have my own, uh, project about education, online education, uh, about product design, um, and speaking public  

Kristin:    00:08:13    Courses, things like that. Exactly. Amazing. I love how every digital nomad has multiple jobs and it's, it's so great. And how much does it cost to stay here in general? Like on a month to month basis?  

Mariano:    00:08:26    Oh wow. That, that is a problem here in Argentina with inflation <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:08:30    Oh, right. So  

Dan:    00:08:31    In Pestos it changes so much, but in US dollars it's still so cheap. So, uh, less than $500  

Kristin:    00:08:38    Per month. For Nomad Hub. Yeah. For  

Dan:    00:08:40    Nomad Hub. And it's insane. 'cause you get your own room. Um, the new one that we're going to with that, that we're telling you about, um, it has a pool, it has a coworking space. It includes like wifi, it basically includes all the amenities that, that, that you need. uh, and, um, and yeah. And food. Food  

Mariano:    00:08:56    Is really cheap.  

Dan:    00:08:57    Yeah. Food is, drinks  

Mariano:    00:08:58    Are really cheap.  

Kristin:    00:08:59    Yeah. I noticed that. <laugh>, I mean, not that I drink a lot, but <laugh>. Right, right, right. <laugh>,  

Mariano:    00:09:04    I don't drink a lot, guys. Please.  

Kristin:    00:09:07    Only when our, when in Argentina. Yeah. Obviously. So, and right now there's about 20 or 30 nomads living here at a time. Yeah, exactly.  

Dan:    00:09:16    Yeah. Okay. There, there's like, I guess like, like half of those that are like more of local, you know, like they're staying here for longer, longer periods of time. Like two, three months and the rest are just coming and going.  

Kristin:    00:09:27    Cool. That's, that's good that there's like a mix of Yeah, exactly. Of people. Because that is, that is an issue that people talk about is like, and I get comments on my YouTube videos. They're like, digital nomads are so, um, like exclusive and they're so lucky and they're, well, they're so separate, they think they're better than other people and whatever. And I'm like, no, they're saying  

Mariano:    00:09:49    That <laugh>  

Kristin:    00:09:50    People on the internet. <laugh>, isn't it true guys? <laugh>. But like, I mean, Venezuela, Argentina, people coming here from all over and you know, it, you don't have to just be like some rich white guy to be a digital nomad. Like, you can be a girl, you can be a guy, you can be undecided, you can be from any country. Um, I have a, you can  

Dan:    00:10:12    Meet the biggest budget either. I mean, as I said, with $500 per month you have, you can be part of it.  

Kristin:    00:10:17    Yeah. Yeah. I'm so bummed I didn't know about this. 'cause I'm paying twice as much to live next door by myself with no cool people around. Yeah. Yeah. And I love co-living. It's just the best way to meet people. But that, this is another reason why slow travel is so important because if you only come someplace for a few weeks or a month, like I leave today and I'm just now meeting you guys. Yeah. So that sucks. Like Yeah. Like you need to go to a place for at least a few months to like ease into it, get into the vibe, meet people, go to meetups, go to networking events, get your work done, go sightseeing, drink beer, drink wine, eat the zoo, get to  

Mariano:    00:10:54    The supermarket even.  

Kristin:    00:10:55    Yeah. Just to get settled.  

Mariano:    00:10:57    That's one for me is one of the most important things when you are a no. Yeah. Is to have your local supermarket, like the, the, the one right next door. And to try to see how that works because in each part of the world that I travel to is totally different. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I suggest to go to the supermarket.  

Kristin:    00:11:15    Yeah. So what is, um, okay, I have a couple more ques, I have so many questions, but we have limited time. But, um, so before Digital Nomads became a thing, was there also, I've heard that there was a big expat community here already. Was that true? Was that noticeable in Bueno Aires? Have there always been a lot of foreigners?  

Mariano:    00:11:34    Yeah.  

Dan:    00:11:35    Um, yeah, I think so. But yeah, they were not categorized as digital nomads. You know what I mean? Yeah. So you have like, you have a huge French community that live in Palermo. There's a lot of us, uh, people that live here as well, but they, it's not like, it was like centralized, you know what I mean? like you, I I, I have a bunch of friends that are either in French or us or other countries as well. But yeah, it's, uh, they were just spread around, you know what I mean? Like Yeah. It wasn't like, um, there's like, uh, like they have events as well, like, uh, and they, they get together. So like people also like travel solo, you know what I mean? So Yeah. Like you see them, uh, you see those events in in like meetup.com, which I use a lot. Yeah. But now I think it's bigger for sure.  

Mariano:    00:12:15    Yeah. And you have like places like Elmo, which is a bar in that is like Santa Fe and <inaudible>, but it's like, I wouldn't,  

Dan:    00:12:25    I wouldn't stress there though. 'cause beer is just, it has, there's this thing, there's this saying that the beer has like something in it. Oh, what? 'cause you always get drunk <laugh> and like really easily. So yeah,  

Kristin:    00:12:36    They're Spike  

Mariano:    00:12:38    <laugh>, especially when they bring the, the hat, you know, the one with the, so how you say that?  

Kristin:    00:12:43    Oh yeah, yeah. Like the beer helmet. The  

Mariano:    00:12:44    Beer helmet. Thank you. So there, there's a lot of that in Alamo, uh, because it's full of expats.  

Kristin:    00:12:51    Oh, well I did go to college in the US so I know what these beer helmets are and beer funnels. Exactly.  

Mariano:    00:12:56    You never try them, obviously, but No,  

Kristin:    00:12:58    I've seen it know how they look <laugh>. Well that's another thing. So what is the, um, what is the lifestyle like here? Like how is Bueno Aires different from so many other cities around the world? Because I feel like even though it's such a big city, many digital nomads are going to Chang Mai, they're going to Lisbon, they're going to Bali and whatever. But like, what makes Bueno air so unique? Um, for not just digital nomads, but in general for people looking to live in a new city?  

Mariano:    00:13:26    Well, I think that the most important thing is that it's like really cosmopolitan place to be. Uh, so it's not equal, but it has the level of the amount of people that the big, uh, cities have. Like you being in the States. Yeah. So in New York, et cetera. So it's like that kind of city, that kind of, uh, rhythm that you can find a lot of, uh, night parties and every day you have a lot of different events. Uh, but I think that the most different thing is that you can allow yourself a really nice level of life, uh, without spending a lot of money what, which happens in other cities like Sao Paulo even.  

Kristin:    00:14:08    Yeah, that's true. And Brazil is expensive. Yeah, exactly. And is is, are the stereotypes true? Are you guys like going out to eat dinner at midnight and doing tango in the streets?  

Mariano:    00:14:20    Well,  

Dan:    00:14:21    It depends. I don't know about the tango. I've never tangoed in my life. Yeah, me neither. And I've been here for 15 years. But, uh, the true, it's true that we eat at 12 at midnight Uhhuh, then we party, we go out like at two 3:00 AM and then you come back like at seven 8:00 AM That's, that's totally true.  

Kristin:    00:14:39    Okay. Yeah. I need to come back after, well I'm going home for Christmas, but I really wanna come back. I'm really sad that I had to leave so soon to go back for Christmas. But, um, I definitely wanna come back and stay for like at least three months and just hang out because I, I feel like one month is not even close to enough time to get to experience everything that there is here. Like I felt like every day I was trying to go to a different neighborhood, even for 30 minutes or something, just to check it out. Or it takes 30 minutes or an hour to get there. <laugh>. Yeah.  

Dan:    00:15:13    It's just so huge. But now you know where to stay, right?  

Kristin:    00:15:15    Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Exactly. <laugh>. So right now we're across the street from WeWork. Um, which is, well you guys have seen it 'cause I've done some videos there and it's actually funny that we met yesterday at WeWork and we didn't even know who WeWork,  

Dan:    00:15:30    I think you randomly asked me like, how do you turn this music off? It's just so loud. And I wanted to, I was like, I have no idea. I'm not from here. I'm just working <laugh>. Yeah. And now we just met randomly like here. That's crazy.  

Kristin:    00:15:40    That's awesome. Yeah. It's a synchronicity. But yeah, we're across from WeWork so it's like the epitome of work life balance. Like you can live here, work here, work across the street, go out on like the same block or in the same neighborhood and um, yeah.  

Mariano:    00:15:56    And almost all coffee stores have a good wifi.  

Kristin:    00:15:59    Yeah.  

Mariano:    00:16:00    So that is great because you can like walk away five blocks away and you can know a different part of the city and have good wifi to stay and work there.  

Kristin:    00:16:09    And when does the new um, the new Nomad Hub open?  

Mariano:    00:16:15    Oh, January 1st.  

Dan:    00:16:16    January 1st. Yeah. Oh my God. So we're actually gonna go out altogether in the 31st for a party. And then when we come back here, we're just gonna like wake up when we wake up like at two, 3:00 PM whatever. And then just like straight like pack our all together like literally like nomads just move into the next place  

Mariano:    00:16:32    That, that's going to be really crazy. Like a caravan. Yeah, it's  

Kristin:    00:16:36    A nomad car. Do they have that yet? Somebody buy that website maybe. Oh yeah. I don't know. It probably exists though already. Should we should do that  

Dan:    00:16:43    Before you polish this  

Kristin:    00:16:44    Before someone else. Yeah. They have Nomad City. They have Nomad boat. Nomad house, nomad Cruise, nomad Caravan. Yeah, that's Check it out. Ta  

Mariano:    00:16:52    Take note. ta.  

Kristin:    00:16:53    Yeah. Start  

Dan:    00:16:54    Idea. Right.  

Kristin:    00:16:55    Um, well I hate moving but I think that that would, that sounds actually like fun. If you have to move, you might as well do it hungover in a caravan of other nomads. Right.  

Dan:    00:17:05    Perfect. And then there's a pool waiting for us in the new Nomad hub, so  

Kristin:    00:17:08    Yeah. Perfect for the hangover. Exactly.  

Mariano:    00:17:11    <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:17:11    Exactly. In the pool with the beer helmet.  

Mariano:    00:17:14    Exactly. <laugh>. Okay.  

Kristin:    00:17:15    Check.  

Dan:    00:17:16    Yeah,  

Mariano:    00:17:17    That's  

Dan:    00:17:17    How we do it in Sari guys.  

Kristin:    00:17:18    Great. Now I have major fomo and I haven't even left yet. Ah,  

Mariano:    00:17:23    It was so bad. When do you plan to go back to traveling after your day in the US? 

Kristin:    00:17:27    Actually I need to leave the US again on like New Year's Eve.  

Mariano:    00:17:32    Why new?  

Kristin:    00:17:33    Uh, yeah, I need to fly out again on New Year's Eve, so. Oh God. I don't know if I can make it down here in time, but we'll see. Okay. I'm only going for like a week to the US or five days she  

Dan:    00:17:44    Wants. What's your next destination after that?  

Kristin:    00:17:46    I don't have a ticket yet.  

Dan:    00:17:47    Oh, Argent.  

Kristin:    00:17:50    Well because I could come back here. Actually.  

Mariano:    00:17:52    We plan to have a really crazy, nice summer so,  

Kristin:    00:17:57    And a nice New Year's Eve. Time will tell by the time this video is up, we'll know what I did. Yeah, we'll have to put like an update at the bottom. Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. So, alright guys, well if you want to come to Bueno Aires then there's plenty of digital nomads here waiting to hang out with you. And if you want to stay at Nomad Hub, I recommend it. I wish I was staying here actually. And just what? Nomad hub? Nomad h.co. It's  

Mariano:    00:18:23    NomadH.co

Kristin:    00:18:25    Oh, nomadh.co. We'll link it below and for any other meetups as well. Yeah. Um, we'll also link to that, that meetup group. Great to talk those meetups. So  

Mariano:    00:18:36    If you have any questions, you can find me as Mariano Goran at Twitter and Instagram about humans. Just Dino.  

Kristin:    00:18:45    Okay. We'll get all the links below Eno Bueno Aires.  

Mariano:    00:18:50    Ciao.  

Kristin:    00:18:55    Thanks for listening. Remember to leave a review and share this episode with someone in your network. And if you want more tips and advice on working remotely, make sure to sign up for my insider list at travelingwithkristin.com/subscribe, where you can find links to download free resources like My Digital Nomad Starter guide. Of course, also subscribe to youtube.com/digitalnomad so you don't miss any of our weekly videos, digital Nomad News or Live Streams. See you there.